Okay, gaskets and new o-rings turned up the other day so this afternoon I took off the front cylinder push rods and tappets.
I was surprised that with piston at top dead center, there was no perceivable play in the push rods once the covers were raised. Perhaps this is normal for hydraulic type lifters?. On my old Guzzi that had non hydraulic lifters you could always feel the movement of the valve clearance. If someone could explain this I sure would be interested to hear about it.
Anyway, everything came apart reasonably easily. The gasket came off both surfaces without too much sticking. I have cleaned all the components except the hydraulic units which are sitting in a bath of oil. Wondering if I should scrape away the black engine paint that is on the edge of the machined surface the tappet guide sits on (see pic) or just leave it as it is.


Another thing that has got me concerned is that the seal at the bottom of the push rod cover where it fits into the guide should be according to my service manual a "Quad seal" for 1981 and later models. The seal set I have however has 12 various O-rings in it.
I had imagined that a quad seal would be a square sectioned seal. Following picture is of the seal that came out of the bottom of the tube. Do you think this seal started off as an o-ring and has just taken this shape after 36 years or would it have originally been a 4 sided seal in section?. I may be worrying about nothing but it would be nice to do the job properly the first time.

 

Scrape the paint off.

Others will be awake shortly to answer your seal/O ring question. Good luck.

 

you got the wrong seals from a moron who knows nothing - let me guess JP cycles china emporium

the later shovels have quad seals the one in your hand is an example of the right seals and NO the o rings will leak

paint chips really

 

No not JP Cycles. We have our own equivalent here in Australia. Considering I had to wait over a week to get the wrong seals I was a bit flustered.
Anyway struck it lucky with the Indian motorcycles shop in town, they had this set of blue silicone quad seals. I notice that they are all quad seals and there was 1 o-ring in the middle of my pushrod tubes. Not sure about putting a quad seal there, but at least I should be able to get the job done using what I now have.

 

Now adjusting the pushrods, have heard 2 different specs for this. Turn adjuster so there is just no play then turn a further 3 turns.....or 4 turns?. Maybe it does not matter. I don't know, I'm new to this hydraulic lifter game.

 

This is frustrating now. Being on the other side of the planet means you guys are all asleep.
Wouldn't you know it. Those blue seals from the Indian shop seemed twice as thick as the ones I took out and for the life of me I cannot install the push rod covers with them.
I guess the lesson learned is that it is best to get genuine HD spare parts.
Took me 2 sets of non genuine ones to figure that out.
I might go and drink lots of home brew beer now and think of other things.

 

I always adjust lifters/pushrods from the top down. The preload depends on certain variables. What lifters are you useing? What is the total travel of the plunger of your lifter? Most common total travel is .200". There are units out there with less. Anyways on the preload that also matters to what your TPI (Threads Per Inch) of your pushrods are. A 24 TPI pushrod on a stock lifter that requires .125" preload would be 3.0 full turns or 18 flats and a 32 TPI pushrod 4.0 full turns or 24 flats. After you adjust the front cylinder wait for the lifter to bleed down before turning the motor over to do the rear. Maybe 10-20 minutes. Once you can fairly easily spin the pushrod the lifter bled down and you should be good to go..

 

the other idea is your sleeping while we are right side up

couple of things - your bike parts you did not post up pictures but I will guess that they are stock Harley - as aussy machines / owners are not big on buying aftermarket like the USA does

the center o ring you can use a standard size like - the black one in between the two browns that are evo top o rings - the blues are early panhead and shovel up to 1977 or so seems to be a mix at first when the quad seals came along - and we see a blend as people change stuff around all the time - the old quad seal in the end you can re use it if you have to just smear hylomar on it and install before adjusting

to adjust the valves - the stock lifters when disassembled will top out to the correct starting spot if the center pin is not sticking out - Again no pictures a visual aid most can spot the things your asking - so your moving forward is smooth -

it also appears your only adjusting the front cylinder and that's fine but you need to pop the clips off both rear pushrods to get location for the fronts

now rotate the engine in the direction of rotation till the rear intake ( closest to the center of the engine ) is at full lift you can rock it back and forth to confirm - now you can adjust the front intake next to the center - pushrod covers all together and seals in place the two actual pushrods are different lengths you want the shorter one all together in place extend till it touches and you just feel the resistance on the pushrod - now turn it down 3 1/4 or 7 flats on the nut and tighten don't eff this up the lifter will blead off and your on your own to find the start point again - mark the screw and the rod with paint so you don't loose the spot - tighten the adjuster parts 3 wrenches needed - the 7th flat will walk back and you will have 6 or 3 turns down

some times you after running a week or so get a slight lifter noise happens - turn that one 3 more flats your good

now do the exhaust the same way turn the rear wheel in 4th gear no spark plugs - to full lift on the cam rear cylinder adjust the other exhaust front cylinder same way as above intake was done

 

The lifters are all completely stock from a relatively low mileage 84 FXWG bike. The reason I have just started on the front cylinder push rods is that the engine is at top dead center on the front cylinder so both valves are fully closed. Had intended to do the back lifters next with rear cylinder at top dead center on the compression stroke. That is how the service manual explains it and that's all I had to go off.
It is the blue seals that are giving me the most grief, they are more than twice as thick as the quad seals that came out. When there is one of these blue seals in the top and bottom of the push rod cover it is nigh on impossible to get the retaining clip back in. I'd rather not use the old seals again as there was an oil leak in this lifter guide in the first place. Thinking I may be best trying to order the correct HD seals.
I do appreciate the feedback.

 

after you bend a valve you will be back asking Y -
you can then -- re read how to adjust the valves correctly
and then look again at how you did it -- knowing you asked and did it a way that's not the correct way to do it


its easy for some of us to just watch the second time after the fact